Worthing Thunder beat Rockets to continue their perfect start to the season

John Hobbs

Worthing Thunder continued their perfect start to the National League, division 1 season with a hard-fought 86-79 win over Reading Rockets at the Worthing Leisure Centre on Saturday.

For the second week running, Zaire Taylor and Alex Owumi both led Worthing with 22 points with the former adding nine rebounds and six steals.

Brendan Okoronkwo added 18 points with Tom Ward playing the full 40 minutes for a second straight week, for 10 points.

But the win was not all smooth sailing for Thunder, as they had to come from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter to take the lead early in the final period, eventually pulling away from a stubborn Reading side in the final three minutes for their second win from two games.

Worthing player-coach Josh Goddard praised the team’s professionalism not just in Saturday’s win over Reading but also this season, especially as the team have not all trained together due to injuries and personal issues.

Goddard said: “We got the win over a strong Reading side that are traditionally well prepared. But we really worked hard and that’s due to our professionalism and how well we all know each other’s game.

“It’s been a tricky start for us, behind the scenes but once we get the next couple of weeks out of the way, we have a few more training sessions under our belts, we should be fine.”